I'm sitting at the airport in Bordeaux right now. Charles is getting the car. David is checking information on his phone. We have no suitcases because the connection from Paris was so cutthroat that Air France couldn't transfer them over in time. Charles had the bags sent to his mother-in-law's place in Armagnac. Meanwhile, however, we're on to Cognac. That means one night with a complementary Air France T-shirt along with personal toiletry kit. It's no worry, however. We're professionals.

We had a few more important appointments in Scotland back in the Edinburgh area, but I can't fill you in on too much at the moment. Because sourcing casks had become seriously difficult, we're not really keen on informing the rest of the industry about our newest connections. Needless to say when we can eliminate as much of the three-tier system as possible our customers benefit from great pricing. There should be some fantastic deals on the way if we can get everything worked out as planned.

It's interesting to listen to bottlers talk about other bottlers in the business. It's really no different than retailer talk. Such-and-such store down the street has a great deal on Lagavulin, that's bullshit, how did they get that price, etc. There's a certain jealousy factor going on as well as a sense of awe. When one bottler scores a barrel of something special it sends shockwaves throughout the industry